EA cancels Titanfall incubation project, lays off staff at Apex Legends and Star Wars Jedi developer Respawn Entertainment

Update:

According to a report from Bloomberg, between 300 and 400 employees have been laid off from Electronic Arts on Tuesday, including the 100 staff at Respawn Entertainment. Bloomberg further reports that one of the canceled incubation projects was a Titanfall extraction shooter.

Original story:

More layoffs are rolling out across the gaming industry, with Electronic Arts (EA) canceling two incubation projects at developer Respawn Entertainment, with the studio sharing the news via X (Twitter) on Tuesday.

According to IGN, around 100 developers have been affected, with layoffs across Respawn's incubation team, as well as the group working on battle royale title Apex Legends and the Star Wars Jedi team.

IGN further reports that Respawn SVP of operations Daniel Suarez is being promoted to general manager of the studio, reporting directly to Vince Zampella, who was the previous GM of Respawn in addition to his current role overseeing the Battlefield franchise at EA.

This comes as EA already laid off 50 developers from BioWare in 2023, further laying off developers at the studio following the launch of 2024's Dragon Age: The Veilguard, with BioWare reportedly reduced to around 100 developers that are now working on the next Mass Effect game.

EA also canceled a Star Wars shooter from Respawn Entertainment in 2024 as part of a broader wave of layoffs that saw 670 employees laid off from the publisher.

Looking ahead, Respawn Entertainment is continuing to provide support for Apex Legends while working on the third entry in the Star Wars Jedi series, as well as assisting developer Bit Reactor with the upcoming turn-based tactics game Star Wars: Zero Company, which is slated to launch in 2026.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor launched in 2023 across Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PlayStation 5. The game received critical praise, with EA CEO Andrew Wilson saying the game was performing "very strongly" compared to EA's expectations. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor went on to become the ninth best-selling game of 2023 in the U.S.